For 40 years Australia has sought to centralise its nuclear waste, but the question of where to put it remains unanswered because of bitter division.

Key points:

The Federal Government wants to store the nation's nuclear waste in South Australia

Three sites have been shortlisted, two in Kimba and one in Hawker

The proposal has divided both communities

Nuclear waste is currently stored at more than 100 sites across Australia, including at hospitals and at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney — 85 per cent of it comes from making nuclear medicine at the Sydney reactor.

The latest Federal Government proposal is to build a single facility in regional South Australia for all of the nation's waste.

"The matter is pressing. Our current store facilities will be full sometime in the next decade, maybe a bit sooner," department of industry, innovation and science spokesperson Bruce Wilson told 7.30.

"There are a number of countries comparable to Australia: the UK, France, Spain, Canada, the US. They all have centralised waste facilities."

But like proposals before it, the latest one is bogged down in the courts because opponents are taking legal action.

Former Liberal senator Nick Minchin was a key figure in the Howard government's unsuccessful push for a nuclear waste facility in regional South Australia in the early 2000s and he is worried history is repeating.

"To think the Australian democracy is incapable of establishing such a facility would be tragic," Mr Minchin said.

"Having this waste just lying around and accumulating and not being stored in a proper and purpose-built facility … it really is important that Australia bites the bullet on this."

The Howard government dropped its proposal after it lost a fight with the South Australian Labor government in the High Court.

Mr Minchin said the saga "was one of the most frustrating periods of [his] political career".

"Fear, in my view, is the last resort of the political scoundrel, and it has been used in the issue of this vital national facility to frustrate governments in establishing this facility."

In 2007, a property called Mukaty Station in the Northern Territory was put forward to host the nuclear waste facility.

The plan was abandoned, again because of legal action, this time by the area's traditional owners.

Tightknit communities divided

The current proposal has three sites in regional South Australia shortlisted — two in Kimba, five hours north-west of Adelaide, and one in Hawker, near the Flinders Ranges.

Landholder Jeff Baldock has volunteered a portion of his property in Kimba for the proposed facility, which would store low-level nuclear waste for up to 400 years, and intermediate-level waste for a few decades before that is moved to another location.

"Kimba is no different to any other small rural community where we have a shrinking population," Mr Baldock said.

"It's just a good opportunity for us to find another industry which doesn't rely on agriculture.

"I don't seriously think there is any risk of this having an effect on our crops [or] livestock."

But Kimba resident Barry Wakelin is not so sure. Despite being a federal Liberal MP when the Howard government pushed for a national nuclear waste facility in the early 2000s, Mr Wakelin now opposes one near his town.

"At the moment I like to call my self a de-liberalised Liberal," he said.

A department of industry, innovation and science spokesman said six white mats were nailed into the ground during a site assessment at Hawker, and while this did not damage heritage, it did not meet the expectations of some members of the Adnyamathanha.